Fundraising

So many thoughts are swirling as we pray and prepare for this mission trip… it seems there is always a ‘current’ prevailing thought concerning preparations. In less than a week, we need to have a pretty large sum of money turned in to Visiting Orphans in order to begin the process of purchasing plane tickets and getting things in order for the upcoming trip. As I think about the fundraising issues, I am amazed at myself, my doubts, my worries, and in awe of the Lord who loves these orphans so…

A likely title for this narrative would be “the day I became a beggar.” On a Sunday evening in February, I prayed and told the Lord I would go to China if that was His desire for me. At that point, my heart already knew he was calling both me and Halli to go. My mind also knew it was going to take some pretty creative planning and fundraising to make our going on this mission trip a reality. I clearly remember telling the Lord that I would beg for the funds if that was what it took. Looking back, I think He must have smiled….

Almost immediately funds came in for our trip. Amounts came in that floored me – and reminded me how much He loves the orphan and desires that I love them too. During those first days, He used those donations to encourage my heart that I was hearing His call, and that He would provide. I am also reminded He is seldom early --- NEVER late!!! As the days progressed on, funds have come in, and we have appreciated every. Single. Donation that has been made. I also know that even with what has been coming in, we need more to make the trip a reality. We started various fundraisers. While those fundraisers have helped, they haven’t provided the funds required for us to go. And the Lord reminded me of my promise that I would even beg if that was what it took….

I don’t think I have ever done anything that took me anywhere further from my comfort zone. Asking for help simply does not come easily to me, but without funding, we cannot go to China and love on His children there. As He has encouraged me to humble myself and ask for funding, He has reminded me of some things.

Things like, how much is it worth? What is the value of a hug to a child that has never known love? Of being held as sleep overtakes a tired little body? The value of praying over that child, speaking His promises over him or her... Or of communicating His love to an adult who works with the children? What is the value of one single soul? Eternity. What is that one soul we might reach with His love worth to me? To my friends? Is it worth my shamelessly begging for help? Is it worth my time away from home? Worth trudging through China in one of the hottest months of the year? Worth the money my friends and I will invest? And what about my soul? Was saving me worth His sacrifice for me? He was betrayed, denied by some He loved, spit on, beaten, and brutally hung on the cross. For me. He did that for one single soul. Was His sacrifice worth it? I believe He would say ‘yes.’ And now He is asking me to go out of my comfort zone, agree to go where He has called, and find a way to make it happen. If that means I will have to be more creative with fundraising, to work longer hours to accomplish the things we have going, and yes, even to beg, then so be it. The cross is before me. How could I do less?

A Loving Pair of Arms . . .

"After my last summer, my eyes were open to the fact that it is good to send money, pay for surgeries... but one of the most important things you can ever send to an orphanage is a loving pair of arms."  ~ Gael Nichols who went to China last year to provide her loving pair of arms

Does it cost a lot of money to send a person to China to provide that loving pair of arms?  Yes.  Is it worth it?  Absolutely.  A lot of times there are too many children for the nannies in an orphanage to provide more than basic care to a child.  Each of us have been the first hand recipient of a child who received a loving pair of arms from some sort of organization, and it has made a great difference in how our daughter's adapted to their new surroundings with their forever families.  That's why we go.

Some of us were talking about having a "China Sunday."  A China Sunday is one where your heart just bursts with emotion for the orphan - for us it's China, for some it's America, or Uganda, or Haiti - they are all God's children.  The one sure fire way for me to have a China Sunday is to hear the song "He Knows My Name."  It was so reassuring to me that He knew our daughter's name and already had her in the palm of His hands.  That even though I had no idea what she looked like or where in China she was, that the "Lover of My Soul" DID know all the details.  My heart and soul would just heave and expel all that stress and all those questions, and I could just BE STILL and KNOW that He had her right where He wanted her.  God is good.

Now, this song rings true for another reason.  I feel like I gotta go sing it over some new children, whisper it in their ears, rock them, love on them, telling them "He knows YOUR name!"  The Maker of Heaven and earth knows YOUR name!  He has not forgotten YOU!  He is the Lover of YOUR Soul!  I just had to come tell you that IN PERSON.

Go.  Be.  LOVE.

~ Lori

Everlasting

As I was cleaning the other day, I came across an old forgotten prayer journal from a couple of years ago. This was my prayer on December 27, 2010 --

 

"and I ask that you would provide funds, a plan, and a way for my family to help the orphan and those who have dedicated their lives to caring for your little ones."

 

Since that time, I have continued to pray for the orphan. I have helped when I could, but I have done that in the safety of my home, the comfort of my living room. I didn't feel there was any way for me to travel to China and be part of an active ministry caring for the orphan. I had too many commitments here. I had lots of reasons for the "why" I couldn't go. Until the Lord ever so gently reminded me those were just "my" reasons, and he had a bigger plan....

 

A little over 2 years after praying that prayer, the Lord called me and members of my family to follow His heart to an orphanage in China with the Visiting Orphans team. We He called, we had no funds for the trip. We certainly have no great talent to take. The greatest thing we can take and contribute on this trip is The One who lives in our hearts. And I am reminded, He is more than enough. He is entrusting us to take Christ's love to the orphan. When I see this from an eternal perspective, the reasons to stay home are trivial. The reasons to go are huge. No funds? He called us. He will provide the funds. Nothing special about me? Alone, I am not so special, but with Him....I can be what He wants me to be. I have no great gifts or talents to take? He will provide what we need. He will place us where He can use us to the greatest effect. Our hearts would feel a little less bruised if we could stay here in our comfort and pray for Him to rescue the orphan, but sometimes prayer requires action. The Lord has been reminding me of all this and so much more, and while He has been teaching me, I found that forgotten prayer…

 

I am reminded that our prayers are everlasting. The Lord doesn't forget even when our frail human self does. He took my prayer, and at His given time, He has made a way for that prayer to become reality in my life. He cares for the orphan, and He has invited my family to join in and be His hands and feet, taking His love to the least of these!

 

Halli sums it up quite nicely. In her words, "He has given me a great beginning. I was an orphan, and then I was adopted. I have a family who loves me, now I can go to China and show the orphans that someone loves them."

 

Psalm 145: 3-4 Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts.

DELAYED...

I'll share something some of you may find odd.  I'm not really an adventurous person.  Seriously, I like my adventures best read in books in the comfort of my own home.  The only reason I would say, "yes" to following Jesus into orphanages in China is sheer obedience to my king, and a deep thankfulness.  Thankfulness for the child that is now mine that was once dependent on the kindness of those who were strangers to me.

So this non adventurous person set off this weekend by myself heading towards a visiting orphans conference in Nashville, TN.  My prayer, "don't send me from here (home) unless you go with me and bless me to be a blessing".

Travel didn't exactly go as planned.  (Rule number 1.  Be flexible). My first flight was delayed.  It was so delayed that I was going to miss my connecting flight, so I rescheduled my whole itinerary.  

I made it to the airport extra early and found a comfy spot by a window.  Within a few minutes I was joined by an older man who sighed as he sat down and made a joke about sharing my chips.  I laughed and offered him some but of course he wouldn't take any.  With plenty of time to visit, we started to chat.  I found out he was a radiochemist and although he had been in the US for almost 30 years,   he was originally from Ghana and he was on his way back to Ghana to see family.  He had gotten a phone call that left him unclear to whether his 96 year old mother was dead or seriously ill.  He didn't know what was waiting for him.  I asked him if he was a believer, if he knew Jesus, and he immediately said "Yes!  Hallelujah!".  We shared that moment of recognition.  A moment of mini worship staring out the airport window, and the shared understanding that 

ALL things, all THINGS are under His Feet.

He asked me where I was going and why, and so I told him about VO and about going to my daughter's orphanage last summer and my commitment to go and lead teams into other orphanages if God willed.  He asked me, "do you like it"?  (Not a simple answer to that).  I said, "I love China.  I love the people.  I'm thankful for the opportunity, but....it's hard.". He asked me what was hard, and I struggled to put it into words.  I said, " well....kids just belong in families that love them.  They just do better there.  I'm sure there are things about Ghana that are hard?". He took his glasses off and looked me in the eyes.  "I want to tell you a story".  He proceeded to tell me a story of being born with a white spot on his cornea and of younger years being held down by his uncles while they tried to treat his eye to get rid of the spot.  He told me how scary it was, how painful it was.  With tears in his eyes he told me, "I was lucky.  Do you know what they do with babies in Ghana that are born with physical imperfections?  They kill them.  They don't kill them themselves.  They get someone else to come and kill them.  Even if they are just missing a finger.  They KILL them.  You don't even KNOW what that child had the potential to be".  He got quiet and he told me, "you need to keep going to China".

All things are under his feet.  All things.

As my plane finally started to board,  he said, "we may not cross paths again in this life, but I think we will meet again in heaven".  I grasped both his hands and said, "I think we will."

All things are under his feet.  All things.

I won't talk about the second DELAY and the cocky flyboy I had to crawl over because he had stolen my aisle seat.  (He ended up being a nice guy). I also got my sweet revenge by parting ways with him thinking about adoption.  I imagine his wife and mother of their four beautiful kids might not thank me.  (Rule number 2:  maintain your sense of humor).  Evidently the Lord had a use for the extra hour we spent on that plane before it ever left the ground.

I was originally scheduled to get to Nashville around 5 pm.  I arrived at 11 pm.

All things are under his feet.  

From Ephesians chapter 1 verse 22

Glory to God

When I was growing up I heard about China's policy on having no more than one child.  It was in the early 80's and I had seen a documentary on how baby girls were being abandoned.  I was absolutely heart-broken even at about age 11 for these children crowded in an orphanage.  The thought that they would forever never know what it meant to be read to before bed.  Or what it meant to have a bedroom, or grandparents, or being held, or being able to grow up and know that you had a family that loved you and you could always come home to, or a bath, or a home-cooked meal, or new clothes that were just yours, or a birthday party, or a vacation to see the mountains or the beach.  What does it mean for a child to grow up in an orphanage?  As a child I just couldn't imagine what it would be like to NOT have a family.  And how on earth can anyone stand by and do nothing.

That documentary forever changed my life.  Adoption was something I had always had in the back of my mind.  I'm so grateful to God that HE put that desire in my heart all those years ago, and that HE took us to China to find our daughter and bring her home.  She is one less, and she fits perfectly.  HE planted a seed in my heart for China that will forever grow.  I fell in love with China - the people, the history, the culture, the smells (and believe me there are some interesting smells), the beauty, the language.  My path will forever cross with China.

So, here I am, less than four years from bringing our daughter home, and I get to go back.  How good is our God?  I get to go back!  It seems so unbelievable.  But as I get to know our God better and better every day I see how much He loves His children, how much He loves the fatherless here on this earth,  how much He wants to fulfill the desires of our hearts, how much He funds what He favors.

Glory to God.
GLORY to God.

~ Lori

Show me your glory

I have prayed about being a member of this team for some time. I have had such a desire to go, but I didn't want to go without knowing the Lord had called. I hadn't felt a clear answer from the Lord, and I had resolved myself to being a prayer partner for those who will travel. Then, the Lord showed up!! He didn't whisper that I should go. My heart felt Him tell me quite clearly that I should GO. Thankfully, as my husband and I prayed about the trip, he heard the same call. Not for himself but for me and our preteen daughter. I tentatively told my praying friends that I was going to sign on for the trip. My heart was sure I was going. My head? Not so much... I went and spoke with my pastor. I had my husband's support of my plans, I felt I needed my pastor's support also. With each step, each conversation, the Lord confirmed his plans.

 

Problem is, our family budget has no cushion to fund a trip to China for me or our daughter, much less both of us. I didn't even have the funds needed for our initial fee as we signed up. My heart trusted our place would remain open for us if this was truly God's will. Even with my heart trusting, I seemed to be hearing the voice of doubt and defeat more than I cared to admit.

 

I started a fundraiser. Friends began purchasing my items almost immediately, but those funds wouldn't be available for a month. A paycheck was soon coming, but it held no extra funds to sign up. Friends began sending messages that money was on its way. A check was given at church with the notation it was for our trip. Another friend called her out-of-state family and friends and raised enough to get us signed up for the trip. Huge sigh of relief and thankful tears. The Lord was confirming again and again that I was following His desires for my summer.

 

As I was praising Him for provision and thanking Him for confirming His call on my plans, I was also asking Him to provide the remaining funds. Look what He had already done. How could I possibly doubt that He would provide? And then He showed up again!! He didn't have to. My heart was trying to trust. He had provided what we needed for the first step, I was sure He would continue...

 

I got a call from a friend. "Could you come by this afternoon, I need to talk to you." I went by for a talk and left with a sizable sum donated for our trip. The amount was large enough, it was difficult to accept. I arrived home and had a card in the mail from another friend. It included funds to MATCH the other huge gift of the day! Tears of gratitude flowed. I tried for some time to wrap my mind around what had just happened. Less than 2 weeks after I accepted the call to travel with Visiting Orphans this summer, the Lord, through His faithful followers, has provided over 1/4 of the funds needed for this trip. Awestruck wonder. My amazing God has called me and my daughter to travel to China to be His hands and feet, to show His love to some children living in an orphanage in China. I am humbled. I am amazed, in awe, and had a difficult time finding words to describe this experience. Then, he reminded me of this ---

 

Exodus 33:20-23 "But He said, "You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live." And the LORD said, "Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen."

 

I didn't see His face, but His glory passed by. I suspect I will never be the same. ---Kim

Because LOVE Compels Us

Why would we leave our families and travel to the other side of the world?  Love compels us.  For ten days, we will leave what is familiar and travel to Liaoning Province in northern China.  We will be going to a special needs orphanage, Chaoyang, along with a team from Visiting Orphans.  We are very ordinary women who have been blessed in extraordinary ways.

Lori
Gael
Kim
Toni D.